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Kirk Cameron & Darwin's Origin of the Species

by Jordan Yerman | November 20, 2009 at 07:44 am

670 views | 10 Recommendations | 5 comments

Why is Kirk Cameron distributing Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species? It's true that Christian activists, organized by minister Ray Comfort and eighties heartthrob Kirk Cameron are distributing copies of Darwin's seminal work on evolution at universities nationwide, but the copies are bundled with creationist tracts. I'm still unclear on why believing in a higher power and accepting that we evolved from apes are mutually exclusive.

It strikes me as a somewhat misguided mission, since arguments for either creationism or evolution are approached from different directions: faith and science. Again, not too sure why these must be mutually exclusive, but either way, I don't think that Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have correctly predicted the outcome here: if you hand a copy of Darwin's Origin of the Species to someone who doesn't believe in creationism, then you just wasted the paper on which the creationist intro was printed. I don't think that this is new behavior, though: I remember quite a few citizen evangelists approaching strangers during the opening weeks of each year at UCSD with the opening line, "you look like an open-minded person!" I thought it was kind of a weird approach at the time, and I'm not sure how effective it was. Anecdotally, neither I nor anyone I knew on campus became more religious as the years went on.

"All we want to do is present the opposing and correct view," says actor Kirk Cameron, a supporter, in a video on the website. That view, which both precedes and counters Darwin's theory in the copies of the book they will distribute, has been penned by the organization's leader, Ray Comfort. In a 50-page introduction, no less.

Comfort's intro seems to have taken a cue from Internet comment threads, and worked in a quick Hitler comparison as quickly as possible.

Purdue senior Mike Brownstein was among students accepting the free book.

"Comfort is wrong. And I don't think they are accomplishing what they set out to do. All these people are getting a free 'Origin of Species.' If they read the book they'll see through (the introduction)," Brownstein said.

If it's a battle of free stuff that Kirk Cameron wants, then Purdue's non-theists say, "bring it on":

As a protest, Purdue's Society of Non-Theists passed out pro-Darwin fish stickers emblazoned with "I Support Science."

Also see a blog post on Onward State: D'oh! I Just Got Evangelized by Kirk Cameron!

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Yommie

at 04:55 on November 21st, 2009

I've got to hand it over to these guys. I love their courage and sacrifice.

Aaron Elijah (not verified)

at 21:37 on November 23rd, 2009

Darwin himself said that evilution was simply a theory. It is more of a belief than anything so why is it being taught in our "public", tax payer funded schools? How come Darwin never mentioned the "Cambiotic Explosion", maybe because it wasnt discovered at that time. If you read this and do not know what the Cambiotic Explosion is look it up, it is basically a layer in the earth's crust where life began... there is nothing before it, and then all of a sudden life explodes onto the scene, but evilutionists dont really talk about it too much. Anyways, God created the heavens and the earth that is my belief and I can show you proof.

Mogsz (not verified)

at 14:48 on January 10th, 2010

Hi Aaron, I wanted to address a couple of things in your post. First is on the nature of the word "theory". In science, a theory is a very well-supported body of interrelated hypotheses backed up by a LOT of evidence. Basically, just short of a law. It's pretty different from the way the word is used in everyday speech, as in "I have a theory about that", which basically means just a wild guess. Opponents of evolution have gotten a lot of mileage out of that, but it's basically just taking advantage of semantic confusion over the meaning of the word. Intelligent design and creationism are not theories because there is no evidence backing them up (the Bible doesn't count as scientific evidence, sorry). It is incorrect to say that evolution is simply a belief. We have directly observed evolution happening in lots of different organisms, from bacteria to fishes to finches.As for the Cambrian explosion (not "Cambiotic"), you are incorrect in saying evolutionary biologists don't like to talk about it. There is a lively debate, still ongoing, about whether the sudden appearance in the fossil record of lots of new forms in a relatively short time is a real phenomenon or some kind of artifact of the way fossils were preserved. There are a number of popular books on the subject, including one by Stephen Jay Gould, so I really don't think biologists are trying to hide anything. Also, it is incorrect to say there was nothing before the Cambrian explosion, there are fossil traces predating it (the so-called Ediacarian fauna).If you have proof the God created the heavens and the earth, I would love to see it. Best regards.